HRC member Irina Kirkora told Izvestia that despite various statements about the absence of calls for schoolchildren to take part in uncoordinated rallies in Moscow, they actually took place.
“There were quite a large number of calls for participation in the action on January 23 among minors. I saw this from the children of many of my friends. The calls went through Tik Tok, ”she stressed.
According to Kirkora, calls were also made to the parents of the children not to let them go to the protest actions alone and to join them.
“This is an understandable technology. They appealed to young people as to a part of society more subject to manipulation. I condemn the attempts of adults to hide behind the backs of minors, ”concluded the HRC member.
Uncoordinated actions rallies in support of the arrested blogger Alexei Navalny are held in different cities of Russia on January 23. Demonstrations are accompanied by detentions, including of children.
On January 22, the Investigative Committee of Russia opened a criminal case on the involvement of minors in unlawful actions on the facts of calls for participation in protest actions. The day before, the hashtag #ChildrenVnePolitiki was launched on the Internet in order to ensure the safety of minors in connection with calls for unauthorized actions.
In addition, on January 20, Roskomnadzor demanded that TikTok and VKontakte remove calls for minors to participate in the protests. Later, the Prosecutor General’s Office also demanded to restrict access to websites that publish calls for teenagers to take part in illegal actions.
The Interior Ministry, in turn, said that, according to the security officials, “the heads of Navalny’s regional headquarters received instructions from their comrades-in-arms both inside and outside Russia – in particular, Ivan Zhdanov and Leonid Volkov – to use the young as much as possible.”
Navalny was detained at Sheremetyevo airport on January 17 upon his return from Berlin. The procedure was carried out by the officers of the search department of the FPS. According to the department, the blogger was on the wanted list for multiple violations of the probationary period from December 29, 2020.
At the same time, the Federal Penitentiary Service in Moscow took into account the fact that since August 22 last year, the Russian has been treated in the Berlin clinic “Charite”. According to the clinic, he was discharged on September 23, but the blogger did not respond to the notification of his appearance on October 23 and did not appear on registration, in accordance with which he was put on the wanted list.
Only in November did Navalny send a notification to the Federal Penitentiary Service that he was living in Berlin, where he was restoring his health. He did not provide official confirmation of treatment after discharge.
A court in Khimki near Moscow on January 18 arrested Navalny for 30 days.
